Central American Campaigns

December 27, 1985

The encouraging results of presidential elections in Guatemala are the latest indication that the forces of anticommunism and political reform are on a roll in Central America.

There also have been successful elections in Honduras. El Salvador has been more than holding its own against communist guerrillas. And even Costa Rica has edged over toward the U.S. side and against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

It is against this background that the Reagan administration has begun a campaign to increase aid to the anti-Sandinista rebels known as the Contras. The first round was a victory for the administration. Congress agreed last month to allow $27 million in U.S. aid to the Contras to be spent for nonlethal military as well as ``humanitarian`` purposes.

Secretary of State George Shultz` charge that a Nicaraguan helicopter shot down by the Contras had a Cuban pilot may have been the opening move in an effort to get Congress to vote for straightforward military aid for the Contras.

The administration ought to succeed. The distinctions Congress has made so far have been laughable. A dollar is a dollar. And if you give it to a military force to buy medicine, the money that would otherwise have bought the medicine will be used to buy guns and bullets.

The administration`s policy in Central America has achieved a degree of success that few outside the administration would have predicted a year ago. The U.S. commitment, even blunted by an on-again, off-again congressional case of the nerves, has strengthened the hand of noncommunist forces. And it also seems to have emboldened some in Central America to take the risk of political reform.

So far, the pressure of guerrillas and the U.S. boycott on Nicaragua have not achieved any obvious results. When Mr. Shultz made his charge, Cuba denied that any of its soldiers were in combat roles, a position that should be met with at least as much skepticism when it comes from Havana as when it comes from Washington. It also counterclaimed that the United States had provided the Contras with the missile that shot the helicopter down.

The point is that the United States should be able to provide that kind of direct military assistance. Cuba is trying to sidetrack Congress by raising doubts again about whether the U.S. has been contravening its ridiculous spending rules. But Congress should not let Fidel Castro get away with that. The Cubans are in with troops of their own and sophisticated weapons from the Soviet Union, and the United States needs to counter this dangerous situation, especially now that elsewhere in the region things are apparently moving toward a remarkable state of stability.